Gaara's Unknown Love
by leigh.hime
Summary: This is a story about Gaara and one of his 'unknown' academy friends named Chouko.


The blue-haired girl put down her pencil and groaned underneath her breath. It had been almost half an hour since she finished her test and the majority of the classroom was still scratching away at their papers endlessly. Boredom was beginning to overtake her and the back of her test was quickly running out of room to accommodate the countless doodles she'd managed to fit into every inch of available space. Most of them were of shuriken and kunai, different styles, blade types, all of the Hidden Village symbols, even a fight scene laid out in the middle of a field. Her true ability was artistry with a pencil, but her parents forced her into the ninja school of the Hidden Sand Village without question, despite her defiant attempts to prove her skills in other fields.

"Chouko – you don't get a choice", her mother scolded her, rapping her fingers again for drawing instead of practicing her jutsu. Red streaks marked her daughter's cheeks, but the woman was relentless.

"I don't know how to fight and I don't want to _learn _how to fight either!" The twelve year old shrieked and stamped her feet against the floor. Her father would have agreed if he had been there, but for the majority of her young and current life, he'd been absent. As one of the sand villages most talented nins, his expertise were needed for the betterment of the village. Their family was honored and made no effort to argue. Cho had kept silent because that was what she'd been taught to do.

"Why can't you just behave like Kenta, Chouko?"

"Mother! I don't _want_ to be a ninja and DON'T call me Chouko – my name is CHO!" she shrieked with no avail. Her brother, Kenta, watched her as a new round of punishments rained down on her. He was older, wiser and knew not to argue with their incompliant mother. He simply scoffed and turned on his heel, heading out to the yard to practice. He wouldn't admit it, but his talent lied in artistry as well.

"15 Minutes", Minuro-sensei called to the class. Everyone glanced up to look at him, nodding with affirmation and going back to their papers, the relentless pencil on paper scratching now resumed. The only other student completely finished was the mysterious, red-haired boy seated at the end of the row that she was on. His eyes were closed and his hands were folded across his chest.

They called him Gaara, no one spoke to him and she wasn't exactly sure why. Several rumors floated around him like the plague and she assumed that all the stories surrounding him had kept the other teenagers in her class at bay.

"Supposedly, he murdered his own mother when he was a baby", Akiyo whispered to her, during one of their lunch periods.

"What? Why?" Cho looked slightly alarmed, but also felt suspicious at her friend's words. She wasn't always one to tell the truth when the attention of a bystander was on the line.

"I'm not sure. He's supposed to be Kazekage-sama's 'weapon'. No one really knows. Also, supposedly, an assassin attempted to kill him. The assassin was hired by Kazekage-sama!" She shrieked, but then got quiet instantly. Both girls glanced over and faltered as they noticed Gaara on the other side of the lunch hall, sitting alone. He had no food, just like he had no friends. Cho dropped her voice low and looked at her friend with a serious expression,

"Now you're lying to me. Kazekage-sama is Gaara's father", her eyes searched Akiyo's face for some kind of credible fact. The blonde girl simply shrugged and put a hand on her friend's shoulder,

"All I know for sure is that no one messes with Gaara. No one that wants to stay living", she stood up quickly and gave Cho a smile. "I'll see you later, Cho!"

She rolled her eyes and scanned back over her test, making sure that all her answers were circled clearly and her work defined. She took a moment to glance over at Gaara. His eyes were closed and his face was etched with anger. His brows were brought down low over his eyes and his mouth was formed into a tight line, teeth clenched. His fingers drummed across his arm and almost without warning, he opened his eyes and stared at her.

Green eyes boring into her, she couldn't look away. His gaze gripped her in a way that she couldn't comprehend and at that moment, it wasn't that she couldn't physically look away; it was that she physically didn't want to. She stared at his sharp features, the dark circles around his eyes – it looked as though the boy never slept. His red hair was his most striking feature, not many people in the Hidden Sand Village had strikingly red hair like Gaara. That was what made him the most noticeable. Words entered her mind like a tidal wave and she was swamped with anger:

"Why are you staring at me like that?" Gaara's sharp voice was so loud between her temples it made her shut her eyes and press her hands over her ears.

"Make it _stop_!" Cho pleaded within her own mind. Almost instantly the feeling left her and she looked up, keeping her eyes glued to her paper. She wanted to look at him, to reassure herself that she had just been spoken to inside of her mind and she wasn't _actually_ going insane.

"Aren't you afraid?" The words pierced her mind with intensity and left a ringing in her ears. It sounded like metal on metal, a sword meeting a shield.

"Yes", she said underneath her breath.

"Time's up! Pencils down! Bring your tests to me", Minuro-sensei said to the class. He smiled widely and scratched the back of his head.

Cho made no effort to move, paralyzed by the events that had just occurred. Everyone around her started gathering their things and the sounds of materials being shuffled together brought her back to reality.

"How do you think you did, Cho?" Akiyo smiled and picked up her book.

"I think I did…fine?" Cho stood up in an uneasy manner and gathered her things, walking to the front of the class slowly. She could see from her peripherals that Gaara hadn't stood from his seat yet and she dared one last glance at him before setting her test down on Minuro-sensei's desk.

His eyes were trained on her and an ice cold fear crept down her spine as she turned away quickly and hurried out the door to safety.


End file.
